BOSTON — Playing with just six healthy players for the second consecutive game, Northeastern picked up their first victory in a month, defeating Hampton 64-60 on a day where they honored four seniors appearing in their final game at the Cabot Center.
The Senior Day festivities saw friends and family in town to recognize guards Derin Erdogan and Maddie Vizza and forwards Deja Bristol and Halle Idowu. Erdogan, Bristol, and Idowu are all wrapping up their second seasons in Boston after transferring to Northeastern in 2022, while Vizza is completing her fourth and final year as a Husky.
After the game, Northeastern coach Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd reflected on what she has learned about the senior class in the past year spent at the helm, particularly with the cascade of brutal injury luck on this year’s team.
“They’re a resilient group,” Edwards-Lloyd said. “They were a joy to coach. … They had a lot of adversity this year, they’ve had reasons to give up, but they have no quit in them, and I’m really proud of them and their efforts.”
Three of those seniors were in the starting lineup Sunday afternoon, with Idowu one of the many Northeastern players out with an injury. The upperclassmen were joined in the starting five by the two freshmen on the roster, guard Yirsy Quéliz and forward Sophia Carlisle. It was Carlisle’s second career start, her first coming Friday against NC A&T, where she scored a career-high six points.
Flipping the script from Friday’s game in which the Huskies got out to an early double-digit lead that they let slip away, it was the Pirates who jumped out to a 15-5 advantage in the first quarter. Five of those points for Hampton came from freshman guard Vanessa Schwarzmann, who made her first career start with the Pirates’ leading scorer, senior guard Camryn Hill, unavailable for the first time all season. Schwarzmann shot eight threes Sunday, making two of them, for a Hampton team that takes just 18% of their field goal attempts from deep on the season.
The Pirates expanded their lead to 11 off a made three from freshman guard Tyra Kennedy early in the second quarter, but that would be their largest advantage of the game — the Huskies ended the half on a 14-7 run powered by six points each from Vizza and Erdogan. Vizza’s points came via two three-point buckets, the second one the 100th made three-pointer of her career. Vizza would hit three deep shots for the third consecutive game, after going 3-for-25 from downtown over a four-game stretch.
Erdogan, meanwhile, established a presence down low, with some great drives to the basket and tough finishes off the glass. She played physical against Hampton’s forwards, at times seen bumping bodies with players she had a heavy size disadvantage against.
Carlisle also stepped up in the post, which became especially important when Bristol appeared to injure herself on an awkward landing in the first quarter. The senior would return before halftime, but played only 19 minutes on the day, and Carlisle was able to draw fouls on shots under the basket like Bristol is able to do. Carlisle played 32 minutes and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, all career highs.
“So proud of Phi,” said Edwards-Lloyd. “She’s been on a long road to recovery from her shoulder injury. She’s had to step in right away under unconventional circumstances and play, and she’s really given us a lift in these past two games — all year, really, since she’s been available.”
Unlike the game against NC A&T, the Huskies kept their foot on the gas in the third quarter. Northeastern went a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range in the frame, with all four guards making a shot from deep, and the Huskies headed into the fourth quarter down by just one.
The teams traded buckets in the final frame, with an Erdogan three giving Northeastern their largest lead of the day with just under four minutes to go in regulation. Junior guard Amyah Reaves answered with a three-point play on the next possession, but that would be the last field goal either side made in the game.
The Pirates had the ball down two points with the shot clock off, but an offensive foul drawn by Bristol effectively sealed the win for Northeastern if they made their free throws. Hampton sent Erdogan to the line, who made the first shot and missed the second, but Vizza came up with the offensive rebound and made a free throw of her own to ice the game.
“That’s what she does,” Edwards-Lloyd said of the board from Vizza. “She does whatever it takes. She may be one of the smaller ones on the court but she’s got the biggest heart. … Big plays, I’m not surprised, because she’s a big-time player.”
Erdogan finished the game with 25 points, her highest scoring total since early January.
“We told [Erdogan] we needed her to step up in a big way today, and she met the call,” Edwards-Lloyd said.
The Huskies close out the regular season with a two-game road trip, taking on William & Mary and Towson, before the CAA Tournament starts the following week in Washington, D.C. Northeastern currently sits in 11th place in the conference standings and would play in the first round on Wednesday, Mar. 13 if the season ended today.
The Huskies travel to Virginia to face William & Mary Thursday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.